Lord Huron – Into the Sun

Been loading up on some extra stuff lately. This gem here especially caught my ear over this past weekend as I’ve had a tough time keeping it off in the car. It’s the first single from the Los Angeles based LORD HURON, and it’s a hell of a debut. If you were hoping for a trip to the tropics this Summer but you just can’t get there, Lord Huron’s “Into the Sun” might be the closest you’re gonna get. This stuff is bound to bring you to that state of mind when you’re relaxing on a beach without a care in the world and the sun in shining in a cloudless sky. As long as these songs are playing, it’s summertime. Check out the self-titled song right below while you can check out the other two uplifting tropical-pop gems on the Lord Huron Bandcamp page.

Into the Sun –

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Folk, Pop, Tropical
Into the Sun: Tracklist:
1.) Into the Sun
2.) The Problem with Your Daughter
3.) We Went Wild

Lord Huron – Official Website
Lord Huron on Myspace
You can now BUY this EP on 7″ vinyl!! Sick!! or on Bandcamp still

Silver Jews – American Water

Hey hey. So I think many of you guys are already going to be familiar with today’s album, but I think it’s more than worthy of having a spot here on the Styrofoam Drone. It’s the pivotal third album from David Berman and company, and it’s quite a milestone in the indie rock world. I probably wouldn’t be making this post if I didn’t find this gem chilling in the ‘used’ record bin the other day either. It was only $6.99! How am I supposed to walk away from that? Do I even need to mention that Stephen Malkmus is on this record? Should I just ask you guys questions from now until the end of the post? Nah seriously though, if you haven’t heard anything from this record, you should stop what you’re doing right now and check this stuff out.

Berman and Malkmus deliver these folky, twangin’ country tunes, and they do it all with a lazy, laid back approach that’s definitely noticeable on many of the songs from the record. My favorite example of “lazy” from this record would probably be the song “Federal Dust”. Just listen and you’ll know what I’m talking about a minute and a half through when the guitar solo starts. It’s actually funny sometimes. It seems like they didn’t care when recording this stuff, but I’m sure that’s far from being true.

I also want to take a quick second and mention the track “Night Society”.Talk about the biggest tease ever when it comes to music. What happens before and after this song!? They just fade out on both ends! Every time I listen it kills me – I just want it to keep playing (which reminds me of “J vs. S” at the end of Shady Lane by Pavement on “Brighten the Corners”). It’s like “What did this spawn from? Was it really just a short jam like that or was there a whole song that you’re not telling us about! Come on! Spill the beans!”. If you haven’t figured it out, yes, this really does bother me, and the worst part is we’ll probably never know. It’s also the only song on the album that doesn’t feature Berman’s unique mixture of a mundane singing voice and genius lyrics. “All my favorite singers couldn’t sing,” says Berman during “We Are Real”. I guess that’s his rebuttal. Another good track for lyrics would be “Blue Arrangements”, and I’ve got it for ya below. Unfortunately that’s all for today, it’s time to go to work, but check this stuff out.

My Rating: 9/10
Genre/ Tags: Country, Alternative, Folk
American Water: Tracklist:
1.) Random Rules
2.) Smith & Jones Forever
3.) Night Society
4.) Federal Dust
5.) People
6.) Blue Arrangements
7.) We Are Real
8.) Send in the Clouds
9.) Like Like the the the Death
10.) Buckingham Rabbit
11.) Honk If You’re Lonely
12.) The Wild Kindness

Buy the LP @ Insound!
Silver Jews – Official Website!
Silver Jews on Myspace

Alex Bleeker & the Freaks 12″

My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Blues, Folk, Psychedelic

By now, I feel like most people have come across and heard of the New Jersey band Real Estate. Their music evokes a hot, hazy summer day where you probably spent more of less of that day walking on the beach in the company of good friends, old and new alike. The band I have for you all today, in terms of band members, is practically the same exact thing as Real Estate. Alex Bleeker & the Freaks features three of the original Real Estate members, being Alex Bleeker, Matt Mondanile, and Martin Courtney IV. The fourth member of the band is no less known than the boys of Real Estate though. Although he is not in Real Estate, this talented young man is known more for his solo accomplishments before anything else, and that man is Julian Lynch. If you have yet to hear any of his solo material, please stop reading right now and follow this link HERE. This is the first track on the Underwater Peoples Summertime Showcase that came out this past summer, and what a perfect first track it is.

But as for Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, these guys all left their other musical outfits at the door for this project, and put forth their efforts into one place and worked together. The result was this still fairly new 12″ record that was put out by the Underwater Peoples out of Washington D.C., and the record is kind of like a thesis statement for a band who seems to have much, much more for us up their sleeve. If you haven’t heard any of the music yet, it tends to be folky at times and bluesy at other times, but they never forget to bring forward the psychedelic elements that’s present in most of the band members other projects (Real Estate, Ducktails, Julian Lynch). Songs like the opening tracks “Summer” and “Epilogue”, as well as “Spring Jam”, and even the short but ridiculously sweet “Dead On” all feature this eye-opening psychedelic feel that I think most people would have a hard time denying how sweet it really is. As the description on the Underwater Peoples blog reads, this release was built solely on the love and passion for music, and that is crystal clear when listening to the record. As the description reads, these boys have all “channeled their romantic energies into an electrified musical powerhouse”, and what an electrified musical powerhouse it is. Have I mentioned that I absolutely love electrified musical powerhouses? If you love them too, then you really need to check out this record. You can still buy it from the Underwater Peoples website, but you better do it sooner than later, because they only pressed 1,000 copies of the LP. I myself will also say that it is a “special privilege” and quite an honor to have let these tunes flow into my ears, and to hopefully bring this wonderful bands music to your ears as well. Please do yourself a favor and BUY THIS RECORD! Thx!

Alex Bleeker & the Freaks 12″: Tracklist
1.) Summer
2.) Epilogue
3.) Spring Jam
4.) Animal Tracks (Mountain Man cover)
5.) Prisoner of the Past
6.) Dead On
7.) Common Sense
8.) Part 2

AB & the Freaks 12″ – BUY!!!
AB & the Freaks on TheirSpace
A short list of songs to check out by the band on Pitchfork